Much of President Donald Trump’s historic 2024 campaign centered on pledges to regain control of the nation’s borders and conduct a sweeping mass deportation program throughout the U.S. interior. Nearly 16 months into his second term, the president and his administration have worked extensively to deliver on those promises, despite significant — and even violent — opposition from Democrats and their activist allies. Here are some of the latest updates on the Trump administration’s work to restore American safety and sovereignty.

FBI Reinforces ICE

Since Trump’s return to the White House in January of 2024, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has directed nearly one quarter of its agents to assist in immigration enforcement operations. According to a report from left-wing outlet The Intercept, former President Joe Biden’s administration had only 279 FBI personnel collaborating with immigration authorities at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Over the course of his first nine months back in office, Trump saw nearly 10,000 FBI employees assist with “immigration-related matters.” As of September, 6,500 FBI personnel were working on “immigration-related matters.” The Intercept noted that it is not clear whether or not those employees are general FBI personnel or its notorious special agents, but the left-leaning libertarian Cato Institute reported that approximately one-fifth of FBI special agents were actively assisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in interior removals.

The number of FBI agents assisting in ICE operations peaked last summer, at nearly 7,000. During that time, violent riots in Los Angeles and other Democrat-run cities targeted ICE personnel, necessitating protection from the FBI while immigration agents carried out their duties.

Other federal agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and even the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), have diverted agents to assist ICE operations, while other federal departments and agencies have collaborated with DHS and ICE to share information in order to identify and track illegal immigrants.

ICE Bolsters Training

A veritable firestorm of controversy erupted in January when federal agents conducting and assisting with immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota shot and killed two Americans who interfered in federal operations: Renee Good struck an ICE agent with her vehicle and was shot in the head, while Alex Pretti brought a loaded firearm to an anti-ICE demonstration and was fired on and killed by U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents. While the Trump administration has largely defended the agents involved in the incidents and condemned Democrats who demonize ICE agents and other federal law enforcement officers in a bid to incite riots and violence and hinder immigration enforcement operations, many Democrats blamed the incidents on poor training, citing the accelerated training programs ICE had been using to put as many agents on the streets as possible in the midst of record sign-ups.

According to a report from Politico, ICE is eliminating the fast-track training program and returning recruits to the standard, more rigorous training route, subsequently certifying veteran ICE agents to continue on-the-job training and mentorship for new recruits at field offices across the country to ensure consistency. Unnamed insiders cited by Politico also attested that ICE is revising its training for enforcement and removal operations (ERO), which focus on the interior removals needed to fulfill the president’s mass deportation pledge. “We’re actually doing something good here,” one of the unnamed administration officials said. “ICE is actually taking this very seriously, and it’s not just lip service.”

Border Czar and former ICE chief Tom Homan reportedly led the push to retire the accelerated training program, which had cut ICE training from 72 days down to roughly 40, although acting ICE Director Todd Lyons also supported the change in training. “Lyons and Homan promised some people on the Hill that they would take a look at it,” one of the unnamed administration officials said. Another added, “It was something Homan wanted to fix anyways that seemed like an easy thing everyone could get behind.”

While the timeline of training is being extended, DHS officials and Lyons have stressed that the accelerated program did not remove training materials but simply streamlined the process. Previously, ICE agents would receive 72 days of training, mostly at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) headquartered in Georgia, consisting of eight hours of training per day, five days per week. The accelerated program increased that to 12 hours per day, six days per week.

Asylum Claims Clarified

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a ruling last week addressing a pressing immigration question and likely to curtail the number of asylum claims granted. Those making asylum claims upon reaching the U.S. purport to be fleeing various forms of violence or instability in their home countries, yet many travel through other countries to reach the U.S. The appellate court determined in Deh v. Blanche that passing through other countries to make an asylum claim at the U.S. border undermines the asylum claims of those purportedly fleeing persecution or violence.

At issue was the asylum claim made by Mauritanian national Efra Samba Deh, who appeared at a U.S. port of entry in California, roughly 6,000 miles away from his home in Africa, and claimed that Mauritanian authorities had forcibly enslaved and tortured him. In three separate hearings before an immigration judge, Deh repeatedly contradicted his own testimony, his statements made in his asylum claim, and statements supposedly made by his sister in a letter supporting his claim; inconsistencies included naming differing towns as his home, claiming that one of his brothers had been killed and subsequently claiming that his brother was alive but enslaved, and claiming to have been arrested and subsequently verifying that he had not been arrested. When the immigration judge, confronted with these glaring contradictions and inconsistencies, denied Deh’s asylum petition, the Mauritanian national appealed the decision, arguing that his interpreter had mistranslated his claims.

The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) denied the appeal, noting that Deh had been asked numerous times if his interpreter was doing his job well. Neither Deh nor his attorney had complained of the interpreter until after the foreigner’s asylum claim was rejected. Later, the Sixth Circuit court agreed that the immigration judge had been correct in denying Deh’s claim, noting that the plethora of inconsistencies in Deh’s claim spanned multiple hearings and written documents and could not be blamed on the interpreter, even if he was faulty, which there was no evidence to suggest. Notably, the federal court also explained that Deh should have sought asylum in other countries, rather than making the trip to the U.S. to claim asylum.

“Deh claims that he fled from Mauritania to escape persecution. But he traveled through several other countries without seeking asylum before reaching the United States,” the court wrote. “Deh’s failure to seek asylum from any country that he passed through on his way to the United States significantly undermines his claims for asylum… That’s because individuals with a genuine fear of persecution would likely seek protection in the first safe country in which they arrive.” (Internal citations omitted.)

“Failing to seek protection in the first safe country an alien comes to,” wrote Andrew R. Arthur, resident fellow in Law and Policy at the Center for Immigration Studies, “clearly undermines the applicant’s claims of either persecution or torture, if for no other reason than it suggests the alien is actually an economic migrant who is merely seeking to resettle in a country with the highest standard of living.” Arthur suggested that the Department of Justice (DOJ) “should take note of that finding, given that nearly all aliens who seek asylum, statutory withholding, and [relief under the Convention against Torture] here have ‘traveled through several other countries without seeking asylum before reaching the United States.’”

“Illegal aliens are entitled ‘to a full and fair hearing’ on their claims, but not much else,” Arthur added. “And the ones who fail to keep their stories straight are likely just spinning their wheels — especially when they claim to be seeking protection from persecution and torture, but cherry-pick the country where they want to receive it.”